


New Costume/Alias - A Touch of Indigo

by badlifechoices



Series: Jason Todd Birthday Week 2018 [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Green Lantern - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: But also A little shit, Gen, and we love him for it, death of a minor alien character, indigo lantern, jason todd is a mess, lantern rings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 21:53:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15694098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badlifechoices/pseuds/badlifechoices
Summary: He backs off and the ring follows him. Hovering in front of his face like it’s trying to tell him something. “Oh no, you got the wrong person. I ain’t no protector of earth or somethin’. You gotta go find someone else, there’s probably a buncha people who can do this job.” But the ring doesn’t seem to care, or understand. Then again, it usually doesn’t work when you try to talk to inanimate objects.





	New Costume/Alias - A Touch of Indigo

Jason doesn’t know why these people always show up on earth out of all the planets in the universe. From what he’s been told there’s endless worlds out there that have sentient life, a shit ton of good or bad people who are probably a lot more suited to deal with interstellar problems than the insignificant people on earth are. Maybe it’s because the Justice League has made a name for itself outside of their own galaxy, maybe because they keep adopting heroes from all over the place. But somehow everyone always ends up on earth. First it was the Kryptonians, not to speak ill of Kara or Clark, Jason thinks Kara is a pretty decent one, though maybe a little too nice for his taste. Then the green lanterns, or did they show up earlier? Hell, if he has any idea of the timeline that’s at work here. There’s Braniac, who he only knows by reputation and J’onn j’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Jason met him a couple of times though he was surely one of the more illusive members of the Justice League. Oh right, also Hawkgirl and her people, however they were called again. And like a whole bunch more that he doesn’t know by name and probably even more he doesn’t know about.

And for some reason they always choose earth. Even so, Jason never thought, that he would get involved in any of that, his team-up with Kory excluded obviously but that’s a different story entirely. But here he is, standing at the edge of the smoking crater that whatever fell from the sky tore into the earth. The heat is almost unbearable, and he has to shield his face, thankful that he at least decided to wear the domino mask to protect his eyes from the sting of the smoke. He peers down into the pit, trying to figure out what exactly it is, that crashed here. Sure, he probably should’ve called someone before coming here on his own but knowing Bruce and the big S, the cavalry is going to be here sooner or later anyway. There’s no way a meteor hits the backyard of Las Vegas and no one notices. Another question, that pops into Jason’s head: Why is it always the fucking desert where UFOs crash? Why can’t it be… the middle of Montana or something. Ah right, Kansas is also pretty popular he supposes.

He can’t really see anything from up there and he sure as hell doesn’t want to wait for backup, so he doesn’t have a choice but to climb down into the crater. The heat is increasing, sweat breaking out under his clothes even though he isn’t even wearing his leather get-up. He narrows his eyes, trying not to cough as the smoke burns in his lungs. It’s a pretty deep crater, not the size of an actual meteor, like the one that hit Russia a couple years ago, but it could be a small vessel or something of the sort. In any case the speed with which it hit the ground must’ve been insane. An unbraked fall through the earth’s atmosphere will do that to you.

Something is glowing ahead of him, a strange, purple light that seems to be emitted from whatever is at the bottom of the pit. He jumps the last metres and the impact shakes his knees. The light is brighter now, engulfing him as he steps closer to the shape on the ground. His breath catches in his throat, when he realises that it’s a person, well, someone who vaguely looks humanoid. A couple additional arms and legs maybe and a second head but apart from that… “Oh fuck,” he mutters, before hurriedly kneeling down next to the alien – is it racist to presume it’s an alien? Could be a mutant as well but all the evidence suggests that it, they came from outer space. He reaches out a hand but pulls it back immediately because the heat is too intense. “Hey man, hey are you okay? Do you need help?” Wow, such a great question Jason, of course they need help.

The alien moves slightly, and Jason backs off immediately, only stopped when two of the five arms – he thinks it’s five but it’s hard to tell through the smoke – reach out to him. Three fingered hands hold onto his shirt, the heat burning into his skin. “@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@ @@@ @@ @@@ @@ @@@@.” The language is entirely unfamiliar to him, it sounds harsh in his ears and yet he could swear that there’s a hint of a plea in their words. “Hey man, it’s gonna be okay. There’s people coming who know how to deal with this kinda stuff okay. You just gotta hang on, they’ll fix you up.” One of the hands releases his shirt and leaves behind a sticky imprint which could be blood or some other bodily fluid. Jason hopes it’s not blood, it’s not a good start into the day to have some kind of alien die in his arms. “You probably have no clue what I’m saying. Fuck, where’s the big guys when you need ‘em.”

The alien stirs again, the hand that’s still clinging to his shirt wanders up to his shoulder. He can feel it burning through his shirt, has to clench his teeth to fight back a scream as it singes his skin. “@@@@@ @@@ @@@.” The voice rasps into his ear. The hand falls away from his shoulder and the alien shivers noticeably. “Come on man, they’ll be here any moment.”

The shiver subsides and suddenly the alien isn’t moving anymore. He has no way of finding out whether or not they’re still alive, but they don’t seem to be breathing anymore. If the alien was breathing in the first place, who can tell whether or not this species even has lungs or something of the sort. The purple light fades for a moment before it becomes stronger, bright enough to blind him completely. There’s something floating in front of his face and it takes him a couple seconds before he realises that it’s a ring. A purple ring that looks creepily familiar. Oh no, no way! He’s heard the stories of the lanterns, but he didn’t even know there were purple ones.

He backs off and the ring follows him. Hovering in front of his face like it’s trying to tell him something. “Oh no, you got the wrong person. I ain’t no protector of earth or somethin’. You gotta go find someone else, there’s probably a buncha people who can do this job.” But the ring doesn’t seem to care, or understand. Then again, it usually doesn’t work when you try to talk to inanimate objects.

Jason looks down at the alien again. No movement, no weird language that he doesn’t understand. “I already know this ain’t gonna end well,” he mumbles to himself, as he reaches out to the ring. For some reason he expected it to burn but it’s cool against his skin. It stops glowing as brightly as before. He tries to shove it into the pocket of his jeans, but it seems to stick to his hand like a magnet. “You really wanna make me do this, don’t you?” But before he can even consider what consequences this might have, the ring moves on its own, slipping onto his ring finger. It fits perfectly, like it was made to measure. A shiver runs down his spine and an emotion he can’t describe takes root in his mind.

He closes his eyes and it feels like the light is burning within him now, finds that there’s a faint glow emitted from his skin. Jason feels lighter than he ever has in his life, mind cleared of uncertainty and doubt about this development. He can feel the power of the ring sing in his blood and he finds, that he can’t help but like the way it feels.

 

It takes him a while to get used to the ring, to all the weird stuff that comes with it. There’s no one to explain to him what kind of responsibilities he has now, or anything of the sort but he’s certain that he’ll eventually run into someone who can explain the whole thing to him. For now, he’s busy trying out exactly what he can do with it. He realises after a while that the ring only reacts when he’s feeling strongly, whenever he’s trying to help people, when he’s certain that what he’s doing is going to change the town for the better. It doesn’t react to anger or hate, not when he tries his hardest to focus his will on something.

The light comes to his help when he saves a woman from a burning building, when he beats up a paedophile trying to lure a little girl into his car and then brings her back to her parents. He wonders if it could be righteousness but he’s not sure about it.

The first time the ring changes his appearance is when he stops the robbery of a small convenience store. He’s “off duty” at the time, only there to grab a carton of milk for himself. He doesn’t have the mask on or the helmet, no way to hide his identity. But the ring reacts as soon as he sees the distress on the shop owner’s face. The purple – or indigo, as the internet told him this specific shade is called – surrounds his body, smooths over his skin. The power of the ring propels him towards the three men shoving their rifles into the cashier’s face and with this newfound power he disarms them within less than a minute.

As soon as he’s home he comes to a halt in front of the large mirror in his narrow hallway. Somehow the purple suits him, he thinks, as he admires his new outfit. It’s classy, the domino mask on his face, the sleeveless suit that doesn’t look nearly as tacky as most of the bodysuits he’s seen on other heroes. He doesn’t recognise the symbol on his chest, but he figures it’s something that the ring itself snuck into the design. He might have to work on it a little bit but strangely enough he likes it. He flexes, just to see how it looks, then he breaks into laughter as the power of the ring subsides and he’s back in his worn-out shirt and jogging trousers.

Now he only needs a really cool name to go along with this new thing, he’s got going for himself here…

**Author's Note:**

> Because I'm really bad at making up hero names. Why don't you give me one? :D


End file.
